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When Google bought Snapseed, the assumption was that they’s simply shutter the app and roll those features into Google+ Photos. Google instead let the app languish, largely untouched, while updating Google+ Photos several times. Today, Snapseed gets its first major update since 2012, when Google purchased the team behind it, Nik Software. With version 2.0, Snapseed gets a few standard photo editing features like lens blur and a non-destructive editing feature that copies edits to new images. The changes affect both Android and iOS, too.

In our preview of Photos for OS X, the line “Photos has two advantages there out of the gate, and it's both faster and easier to use than the software it replaces” was (and is) telling. Photos is just plain better than iPhoto in so many ways, and Apple is keen to take advantage of it quickly. Now that the new software is out for both OS X and iOS, Apple is also updating iTunes to aide with syncing photos in Photos across all your devices.

Take a video on your iPhone or iPad, and there’s bound to be at least one still image you’d like to extract. Someone made a funny face, or the bat-ball impact is just too cool to pass up. You could feed that video into some sort of expensive desktop software to extract stills, but that’s not fun. Enter Taplet, an app that aims to snatch still images from your videos for you, and let you use them as you please.

Editing photos has come a long way since Photoshop popped up on the scene. A nearly exhaustive list of services and apps dot the photo editing landscape, many offering to do one specific thing. Some offer more flexibility, and have hence become a platform instead of an app. BeFunky is the latter. Cross-platform, BeFunky wants to be your go-to editor for photos, no matter what you want to do. Is it too much, or just enough? We find out.

Instagram is trying to branch out from its core service as a photo-centric social network. In December, Instagram brought forth several new filters for users. Now, they’re rolling out two new tools: Color and Fade. Though Instagram started the mobile photography snowball, others have sniped a bit of the energy from them, leaving Instagram to play catch-up. Think of these new tools as a continuation of that effort to catch up to the likes of VSCO Cam or Enlight. Like the rest of Instagram’s tools, Color and Fade are really simple to use.

Not long ago, Google blogged that Drive would now serve as an automatic backup point for your photos. While the announcement was welcome, the service wasn’t quite ready for primetime, leaving the new ‘Google Photos’ tab in Drive dormant. Users are starting to see auto backup pop up for both Android and iOS, but there are some interesting wrinkles some may not have considered. Rather than let you figure it out on your own (and maybe delete pics accidentally), we’ll go over what’s what with Drive’s automatic backup.

The best camera you have is the one you’ve got with you, right? We bet your smartphone is on you most of the time, too, making it crucial for getting pics when you’re in a moment. While hardware and software are a big part of taking good pics, so is skill. If you don’t know how to take great photos, yours won’t be very good, regardless of what photo editor or smartphone you have. To help with that, Carousel is introducing Photo School, a series of blogs meant to encourage better smartphone photography.

I’ve been a fan of Beastgrip for some time now, and with good reason. The unique smartphone housing is perfect for everything you need to do when it comes to mobile photography or videography, and makes your powerful, pocketable device the hub of a robust mobile imaging platform. In a short time, Beastgrip has captured the imagination of casual consumers and forward-thinking pros alike, and the latest iteration — Beastgrip Pro — builds on that. And today, you can finally get one for yourself.

Many of us have photos in Facebook we keep there for safekeeping. The ability to upload pics and have them stored in the cloud is a nice feature for Facebook. Nostalgia is also one reason many keep those old photos lying around digitally, where a quick trip down memory lane is just a few clicks away. Today, Facebook is announcing less clicks to get you to memory lane, as a new feature named “On This Day” is being rolled out.

When Apple launched the iPad Air 2, they ushered the team at Pixelmator onto the stage to showcase their new iPad-only photo editing app. If you’ve not yet used Pixelmator on the iPad — it’s about as good as it gets for mobile photo editing (and image creation!). Forgoing the list of filters many others want to feed you, Pixelmator is a bit more ‘pro’ than most other iPad photo editing tools. Today, an update brings in much more functionality, and some new tools for users to check out.

Nearly one month old, Darkroom has made headway when it comes to easy photo editing on mobile devices. Their straightforward approach adds a wealth of easy to use tools that can bring some professional looking edits to the small(er) screen. Darkroom just got better, and has addressed one major issue many users had with it at launch. With version 1.1 of Darkroom, you can now zoom in on pictures to get a better idea of what your edit will look like to the discerning eye.

VSCO Cam is a widely used photo editing tool for mobile devices, and might just offer up the best suite of tools available. Those who take and edit a lot of photos rely on it heavily, and it’s those VSCO seems to have in mind with their latest update. Now, with VSCO Cam 4.1 for iOS and 3.2 for Android, users gain the ability to batch edit. Once you apply a set of edits to one photo, a quick selection of others populates your edits to them as well.